By JARROD POTTER
IT WILL be the battle of Casey versus Cardinia on Sunday morning as Cranbourne clashes with Beaconsfield for the South East Juniors Youth Girls premiership.
Cranbourne narrowly avoided despair against Mornington in a one-point nail-biter to take the ticket to the grand final with a 6.9 (45) 6.8 (44) victory.
“We were pretty flat and that was probably the worst game we’ve played all year, to be honest,” Cranbourne coach Keith Edwards said.
“But to come out and get the win and go into next week – it’s a big wake-up call for us.
“It was patchy – there weren’t many girls that had four quarters of effort and that’s the disappointing thing.
“Like last week against Beaconsfield we only played a quarter-and-a-half and yesterday we were just patchy as well and not consistent enough and need to play four quarters next week.”
It will be the second time in as many years it will be an all-Eagles grand final following last year’s thrilling inaugural win for Beaconsfield – led by Youth Girls champion Ellie Blackburn.
Hampton Park continued its giant slaying in Youth Girls 2, defeating Narre South Lions after a nine-goal haul from Emily Browning gave the Redbacks a 11.13 (79) to 2.1 (13) triumph.
In the Premier boys competitions, Beaconsfield and Noble Park will lock horns again in Premier 1 after the Bulls kicked truly to take a 6.5 (41) win over Berwick 5.9 (39).
Endeavour Hills edged out Narre South Lions (44) to 5.9 (39) to earn the Premier 2 competition’s second grand final spot, facing Narre Warren at Holm Park Reserve.
For the comprehensive wrap of this week’s preliminary finals results, reports and fixtures – grab a copy of this week’s Pakenham Gazette or Pakenham-Berwick Gazette.
